Tarun Katiyal jaisa koi nahi!

Archna Shukla, TNNOct 3, 2004, 02.02AM IST

He is considered to be one of the best creative geniuses in the Indian TV industry. He was credited largely for the strides that STAR Plus took around four years ago on the Indian broadcast scene with Kaun Banega Crorepati, followed by the K-serials.

The industry expected Tarun Katial to weave the same magic for Sony Entertainment Television, when he joined a year ago as the executive vice-president, programming and response. But has he been able to live up to those expectations? Archna Shukla caught up with him to find out this and more. Excerpts:

What do Indian viewers want? Viewers, like all consumers, want choice and variety. Change is the only constant when it comes to tastes - real, relatable characters that viewers can identify with, storylines that are involving as well as interesting.

Do they watch TV shows or TV channels? TV shows first, then TV channels. If they watch shows, then what explains the uninterrupted success of STAR despite the so-called viewership fatigue on account of its K sops? In fact, some content providers say that the success of their serials depends a lot on which channel it is on.

I can't comment on anyone else but Kkusum and Jassi have survived on SET very well. We have seen good success with variety in content with shows like CID - the longest and the only detective show on TV today and a leader across channels in its time slot.

Another classic example is Crime Patrol - the only docu-drama in the general entertainment category and another leader across channels. The content producers who think that their shows do well on a particular channel, should not produce programmes for others then.

Sony hasn't been able to replicate Jassi's success with any other show. Constant attempts to exploit Jassi's brand appeal, in a way, also say that you've failed in moving beyond Jassi. Do you agree? Crime Patrol, Ye Meri Life Hai are both examples of building on Jassi's success. Crime Patrol rates over 4.5/5 TVR in 1 million+ Hindi markets today and Ye Meri Life Hai is at 3+ TVR at the same base which is over 150-200% increase in numbers. I don't think it's justified to say Jassi is Sony's only success story.

The other fact that usually skips attention while talking about Jassi's success is that the serial hasn't been able to match the TRPs generated by the mangalsutra brigade on STAR. What do you attribute this gap to? SET is a over-1 million-population-strata-focussed channel because these cities represent the early adopting trend in consumption like in any other consumer product. Our content, too, matches the aspirations of this viewer set.

There is tough competition in the 9-10 pm time-band with the numbers being in very close range of each other between SET and STAR Plus. Also, TRPs are not the only measure of weighing a programme's popularity.

The on-ground popularity of Jassi is far more than that of any TV character. The kind of demand that we get for promotions with Jassi is mindboggling. And coming back to TRPs, the shows in question are over two-three years old, where as Jassi has just completed a year. We should give the show some time to consolidate its position further.

Has the focus on week-end produced desirable results? Week end's are for variety events and movies. The concept is novel and promising. We will be doing several stunts and specials starting next month in this timeband.

Sony has been struggling hard to get on to the top for quite some time now. Where do you see the channel two years down the line? SET will be the channel representing the viewer needs of this country specially among 1million plus markets in a leadership position.